Fame and honour have come at a terrible price for Pte Johnson Beharry, the young soldier from Grenada who was awarded the Victoria Cross by the Queen last year.

he is in constant pain from the war injuries he received in Iraq when rescuing fellow soldiers from his burning armoured personnel carrier.

He also says that his days of active service are at an end and that his personal life has been overshadowed by family feuding.

Pte Beharry, 27, of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, twice cheated death in acts of exceptional bravery when his Warrior tank was hit by rocket-propelled grenades in two ambushes in 2004.

Exposed to enemy fire, with his hatch blown away, his communications gone and his periscope shattered, he led his five-vehicle convoy to safety then clambered on to the red-hot metal to save colleagues, including his commanding officer.

When he went to Buckingham Palace, with his wife, Lynthia, to collect the VC, the Queen told him that the injuries inside would take the longest to heal, he reveals.

Pte Beharry was one of eight children brought up in a two-room hut in Grenada. He moved to Britain when he was 19 and worked on building sites. By joining the Army, he reversed a slide into drink and soft drugs and subsequently discovered an aptitude for driving the 25-ton Warrior vehicles.

In his remarkable book, Barefoot Soldier, to be serialised from tomorrow in The Sunday Telegraph and The Daily Telegraph, he says that he now wants to show how disadvantaged young people can turn their lives around.

Asked whether there was ever a moment when he wished he were an unknown soldier again without his VC, Pte Beharry replied: "I am proud of it, but you don't get something like this for free. You get it and survive with the pain â or you get it and die."

Whilst uncommon valour is not the single most important attribute of junior management I would have thought the Army and his unit would have promoted him. Small price to pay for the unit and the Army/Country in general.

If it looks like he is not going to be able to continue his chosen career for some time (sic Infantary) then promote him and use his assets for the better.

What about getting him into recruiting and get him into schools. He can be used as a perfect role model for the next generation.

What's he doing these days? - I know it says he dosen't have a role, but surely they're not going to boot him out? I'm sure I read he was going to be on a recruiting team?

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It would be brill if they could get him to work as an instructor on basic training. What a role model he would make!

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You'd have thought they'd have cottoned on to that wouldn't you. It'll be at least 70 years before they can name an accommodation block after him.
Shame though, the bloke shouldn't have to put up with this nonsense.

What's he doing these days? - I know it says he dosen't have a role, but surely they're not going to boot him out? I'm sure I read he was going to be on a recruiting team?

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It would be brill if they could get him to work as an instructor on basic training. What a role model he would make!

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Probably because he's not physically up to it yet. When they pulled him from his vehicle he was assumed to be dead or dying, his injuries were so bad. What he needs and deserves is the time to recover - as much as he can - rather than being given some bogus job.

Headley court, where you go for your rehab etc has a ward, the Peter Long ward. Thats where people go who have sustained serious injuries or contracted bad illnesses (no, there are no "good" illnesses) and that's where Pte Beharry is in treatment be it as an outpatient. He was there briefly when I was there and no, I doubt if he is up for anything but PR work on a low scale.

Everyone with a serious head injury has a long road to recovery, some make it and others don't.

If he was to be promoted he would be taking away a slot which needs to be filled so that the unit can be effective.

He is not productive at present and, like me, marks time or gets in line for a medical discharge. There is no disrespect involved - he may have done heroibcal things but that doesn't make you a leader - it means that you had the misfortune to do the right thing naturally, perhaps in camp he is a right mare - do we know?

If, and I hope he does, get well, then proves himself on cadre then yes promote him..... otherwise, you know!